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"Mommy and Me" at Disney, overview

Because we are Disney Vacation Club owners we have points that need to be used each year for stays at Walt Disney World. Well technically we can use them at all kinds of places...but we like to use them at Walt Disney World. We are planning a big family vacation down there later on this year but we had some more points to spare so Perry and I recently took a little long weekend trip just the two of us. With Andrew's new job came less vacation time (but oh so much better of a schedule) so he wasn't able to come on this little mini-trip to Disney.

I was a little concerned about how it would go single-parenting a three year old at Disney, but it went really well. The only time I struggled was one night getting on a bus with a sleeping child in a stroller (which you have to fold up to get on the bus). But we made it home that night and we did great the whole trip. Perry had a few little moments of not wanting to obey, and not wanting to get off a fun ride when it ended, but most of time time he was happy and having the time of his life.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge which is our home resort. I was vying for using the least number of vacation points possible so I booked just the basic standard room (with no view). But happily got upgraded to a savannah view for free. That happens a lot there, because most of their rooms are savannah view. So we had awesome views of giraffes grazing in the mornings and evenings. Perry loved running out on the balcony to check on the animals.

We spent time at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot this trip. We skipped Animal Kingdom even though we love it because all the new nighttime stuff there was set to start the week after we were there. We spent a morning and an evening in both the Studios and Epcot and the rest (most) of the trip was spent in the Magic Kingdom. One of the best things I did was plan in a day to sleep in and play at the resort and at the pool in the morning. By day 3 it was a much needed break from the alarms and hustle and Perry loved the pool. I have no pictures from it because...well...single parenting + pool.

Perry's favorite ride of the whole trip was Nemo (at Epcot). I thought I was never going to get him out of that building...twice. He loved it and is a bit Nemo obsessed right now. I often hear him on his monitor saying "fish are friends, not food" and singing "in a big blue world...." It is so cute. Except when he asks what happened to Nemo's mom.... And at least once has woken up upset saying "I don't want to lose my mommy and daddy" and we had to reassure him that we are not going anywhere and we are all safe. Thanks Disney. ha.

His favorite characters to meet were Chewbacca and Mickey Mouse and an unplanned encounter with the Mad Hatter. But more on those later.

We were there from Friday night until Tuesday afternoon and it was the perfect amount of time for a little Disney fix to hold us over to the big trip at christmastime.